The Bitch Is Back

It's 2019, and the Schloss-(Bitch) Blog is back...

Or as Elton John would put it...

I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch oh, the bitch is back, stone cold sober as a matter of fact

I can bitch, I can bitch 'cause I'm better than you, It's the way that I move, the things that I do, oh-oh-oh

I entertain by picking brains, sell my soul, by dropping names
I don't like those! My God, what's that! Oh, it's full of nasty habits when the bitch gets back.

Oh, how I've missed you all, but Happy New Year to everyone and here's a poem to make it so:

Twas the night before the shutdown, and in the White House below

Not a person was stirring, they'd all been furloughed

    And on Capitol Hill, all things were still

After all, where were they gonna' come up with that 5 bil?..

    Meanwhile, out beyond The Beltway

Those laid off had naught to do but try and play

    And at the border, mothers gasped

Having received the news, their children passed

    But for the rest of us, life goes on

But for me, 2019 brings a new song

    Of Radio Freedom and just rolling along

So go out there and don't get too down

    Don't let the stock market make you frown

As your 401K fritters away

    Below in the White House, everything's on layaway.

What a year it has been indeed.

Saw the Eagles, and Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.

Great show - how does he get those stars from groups of yore to come out and play with him? He had the keyboardist from Journey and Santana, who is in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame with both. Also had the lead singers/guitars from Toto, 10cc and Men at Work and did so many of each group's hit songs, plus his own solo and Beatles' hits.

One more great show to go and I can die happy - seeing the Stones when they come to Chicago. Just wish I'd have been able to see Tom Petty before he was "Taken Back."

The Dead are still touring, and here's the thing - saw 'em at Soldier Field 25 years ago. Jerry Garcia and the gang. Sting opened for them. Bob Weir looked like he had just stepped off a golf course that night, wearing a neat, pressed golf shirt and pleated shorts, his hair business clean cut. His riffs filthy though.

Now, the Dead are back and Weir looks like his barber died or else he's auditioning to be an extra in the next Tarzan remake. Still plays a mean guitar and now John Mayer is touring with them. Everyone wants to tour with them. They've already had Trey Anastasio and Bruce Hornsby.

Many of these guys are in their 70s and stlll banging it out. Gotta' love it.

I'll be seeing you weekly from now on again, at the very least. Maybe some New Year's resolutions next time. I know mine - same one I make every year and never keep it - return Cheryl Tiegs' phone calls.

One of these years ... have a great 2019, and beyond.

What a Year It's Been

So, how was 2018 for you?

Your taxes were cut, right? Well, not really. Corporations and the super-rich had their taxes cut. Big time.

People died in shootings all over America, more than in the last 40 years. The report about it is issued on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. But Congress and the president still won't act on comprehensive gun-control legislation.

It didn't matter if you were a championship coach (Joel Queennville) or a loser (Fred Hoiberg) in Chicago. You got fired.

Colin Kaepernick, meanwhile, a Super Bowl quarterback, is still not employed by an NFL team. How is that possible when you look around the league at some of the backups, let alone starters, who are still employed? At least Nike thought enough to make Kaepernick a symbol for standing up for that in which you believe.

In Arizona, pro teams are squawking at the state and/or the city of Phoenix to upgrade existing facilities that are virtually brand new or build them ones. Try winning a championship first, OK? Your tax dollars at work.

Not far from there, the U.S. Army, not the National Guard, is standing by to prevent women and children from crossing the border into the United States.

Wow, do I feel safe.

For me, it was a year of reunions - with my class of '68 fellows at Brooklyn Tech, the country's largest high school (that now has girls - thanks a lot). And with my GDX brothers from UAlbany (I remember when it was Albany State - doesn't that sound so much more powerfully athletic?).

Brooklyn has changed so much - so much construction, so much gentrification, but nothing can top a dinner at Peter Luger's. Best steak, best meal. Period.

Some doors closed but many others opened in book publishing and radio broadcasting. I am still in awe. If you'd asked me a year ago if I'd be a radio deejay and a book editor right now, I'd have told you that were you crazy.

But I am. Both.

While investigations close in on the White House and its principal resident, that national debt continues to soar, with politicians showing little to no concern over that. Spend away, let our children and grandchildren pay for it later. When we're a third-world country.

Smile, though. As I write this, the NY Giants could still make the playoffs this year at 8-8 if they win out.

Or ... not.

May your 2019 be better. Save your pennies. The national debt is still growing.

I love you Jocelyn, Jordan, Erin. Let's make this wedding thing work.

Is it Just Me Or Does NFL Officiating Suck?

If you're like me, you watched some pretty horrible officiating this past weekend, both in NFL and college football.

Too many head-to-head and helmet-to-helmet hits that didn't get called, right in front of referees. Too many pass interference penalties that didn't get flagged and too many plays that weren't pass interference, or were marginal at best, that did.

Even worse, every game I watched this past weekend - every game - the officiating was so bad that the referees almost immediately send every call to the review booth for mediation rather than stick with their original conviction on the call, knowing that replay could possibly embarrass them by showing them to be wrong. It extends the game, delays the game to the point of being nearly unwatchable.

How do we fix this? Referees can't get calls right as it is. Was it a catch? Or wasn't it? Was it a fumble? Or wasn't it? Was it a touchdown? Or wasn't it? Was it a first down? Or wasn't it?

And here's one of the most egregious of all - the San Diego-Pittsburgh game Sunday night turned completely when referees refused to call a blatant false-start penalty on San Diego's right tackle. The game was not the same thereafter.

Officiating sucks, at the college and pro levels. So, NCAA and NFL, what are you doing about it, besides letting refs review obvious calls, so obvious that anyone in the stadium or watching on TV saw it all plainly with their own two eyes when it all happened in real time?

One last thought - the Bears deserved to lose to the Giants. Chase Daniel couldn't catch a cold, let alone a snap from center. The Bears defense, as feared, never met a back like Saquon Barkley, whom they couldn't tackle. And Eli Manning had a revelatory bounce back.

What's next? Green Bay firing Mike McCarthy? No, wait... Anyone think Aaron Rodgers pitched in on that decision?

Just asking...